What are the implications of granting working rights to forced migrants in their hosting economies? Despite the alarming size of forced migrant flows, which reached approximately 80 million people in 2019,1 few hosting economies provide them with unrestricted work permits. The process of obtaining a work permit, if available, often involves large amounts of red tape and rigid eligibility criteria due to fears of political backlash given the perception that it could hurt labor outcomes of natives. Yet, little evidence is available on the impacts of granting work permits to forced migrants on a large scale, especially within developing countries, which host more than 85% of the forcibly displaced populations worldwide and typically have large informal sectors.
